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Janesville shelter volunteers report more new faces among homeless guests

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Tammy and Duane Albrecht, the site hosts for the Gifts shelter at St. John Lutheran Church help set up the food line before the shelter residents arrive.

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

Taylor Utzig, Mark Otis, and Josh Brecht, left to right, volunteered to serve the evening meal at the GIFTS shelter. Otis, owner of the Milwaukee Grill in Janesville, also supplied the food for the meal.

JANESVILLE — John was a salesman for an art supply company.

He lived from paycheck to paycheck but had his own place. When the economy tanked and he lost his job, he had no resources to pay for housing.

Now, he’s homeless.

Jack, 40, was a trucker.

He had a place with a little backyard and a garden, but when the trucking industry took a nosedive, he lost his housing.

Now, he’s homeless.

Although not their real names, these men are the real faces of the new homeless in Janesville who are guests of the God is Faithful Temporary Shelter, which is now in its fifth year of operation.

“These are the guys who have never been homeless before because of the economy, job loss or something that happened in their life that they’ve found themselves in this situation,” said Paul Benish, GIFTS vice president. “It’s not a lifestyle they’ve chosen but been thrust into.”

The men range in age from 18 to 75 but “it runs the gamut,” he said.

“We get new guys in every week. They’re scared and don’t know where to turn,” Benish said.

GIFTS opened Dec. 24, 2007, and housed 78 homeless men during its first year. Last year, 100 men were served. Already this year, 108 men have found safety at the shelter, which opened in October and closes April 21.

The increase “is driven by the economy, the job market and what’s going on locally,” Benish said.

Benish said he’s seeing some signs that the number of homeless men might stabilize. Several GIFTS guests found jobs in recent few weeks, he said.

“Although a lot of them are through temp service agencies, I’m seeing a lot more enthusiasm and optimism from the guys in the shelter because they are starting to get leads on jobs,” he said.

A first-time guest to the shelter Sunday night walked more than 10 miles looking for jobs Monday, Benish said.

“He applied for a dozen different jobs. The only problem was he doesn’t have a photo ID,” Benish said. “So we’re in the process of helping him procure that. That’s some of the help we can provide. If he gets that photo ID, I have no doubt he’ll have a job by the end of the week.”

Twenty-seven churches in Evansville, Edgerton, Footville, Emerald Grove, Milton and Janesville support GIFTS. Of those, 12 are host sites—all in Janesville. Partner churches from outlying communities provide volunteers, Benish said.

More host sites and volunteer churches are needed. GIFTS lost two host sites this year for reasons internal to those churches, forcing the shelter to open a week later in October and close a week earlier in April.

Benish said he’s pleased by support from folks who contact him to donate money, supplies, clothing and toiletries.

“The community has been so supportive of what we’re doing,” he said. “They see the need and good work we’re doing, and we appreciate that.”

GIFTS this year is working with more resources in the community, including the Caravilla Homeless Veterans Transitional Living Program between Beloit and Janesville, and ECHO’s Way Home program, which helps homeless men who have jobs get re-established in the community, Benish said.

Janesville has always had homeless men, but they’ve been hidden, Benish said.

“When we first thought about opening and asked folks who had worked with the homeless in the past how many guys they thought GIFTS might see, we were told Janesville didn’t have a big homeless population and that we might get six or seven at the shelter,” Benish said.

“Yet, 108 homeless men this year have found us,” he said.

GIFTS is averaging about 23 men per night. It sheltered 26 men Monday night and another 29 on Tuesday.

“And it’s not even been a cold winter,” Benish said.